The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor light-emitting element such as a semiconductor laser or a light-emitting diode (LED), a manufacturing method thereof, and a semiconductor device.
In the semiconductor laser, a ridge portion is formed by etching and the ridge portion is interposed by an insulation film after forming a semiconductor laminated structure on a substrate, and thereby it is possible to realize a current constriction and to obtain a low threshold current density (for example, S. Nakamura et. Al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 69 (1996) 1477). In addition, since it is possible to have a difference in refractive index inside and outside the ridge portion by selecting a material having a lower refractive index than the semiconductor as a material of the insulation film, a so-called light transverse mode is easily controlled. However, in such a structure, since an electrode area is limited to a width of the ridge portion or less, a contact resistance with the electrode or a semiconductor bulk resistance is caused to be increased, and thereby a drive voltage is increased.
Therefore, in order to reduce the above resistance while performing a current constriction, a method of forming the ridge portion by a crystal growth after forming an insulation film having an opening on the semiconductor layer is proposed (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-190142).